Archive for the ‘St. Patrick’s Day’ Category

Happy Spring everyone!! We’ve made it through the dark, gray, dreary days of winter unscathed, and we hope you have too. The clocks have sprung forward and it’s time for renewed optimism as the days grow longer and we welcome the sun’s rays with open arms. Although, as we Portlanders all know, don’t expect the rains to stop until about July 4th. Then we can all officially declare it summer!

Okay, first off, how was your St. Patty’s Day? We trust you reveled in all things Irish for the day, including corned beef and cabbage, wearing lots of green and drinking some Irish beer! I’m not talking that stout made in Dublin. I’m talking about Lumberjane Stout, an American stout made by an Irishman right here in Portland! It was flowing all St. Patty’s day at the Hawthorne Hophouse. Word on the street is that Lumberjane makes for one delicious car bomb too!

Many thanks to Leah, Phil, the and entire Hophouse staff as they were gracious enough to host us for some free tastings, in addition to having the Undun Blonde, Lumberjane Stout and our new Handful IRA on tap. Thank you also to all the great people who came out to celebrate with us!! You all made it a very fun and memorable day.

The printed cans arrived last week. YAY! Here’s a picture in case you missed it on Facebook.

Now we have the enviable task of filling them all with delicious Natian beer for your thirsty mouths. It’s hard work, yes. But totally worth it when we see you enjoying a ‘Pint In A Can’ at your favorite bar or restaurant. Canning for us a very time-consuming process, as we do it all by hand with a dual filler and single can seamer. Here’s a picture to show you exactly what I’m talking about.

It’s not pretty and it’s not sexy, but we are definitely unique in this regards. There are many “handcrafted” brews out there. But I doubt any of them mean it as literally as we do here at Natian Brewery. I’m not knocking any of the other guys who have canning lines to pump out dozens of cans per minute. Shit, I’d LOVE to have that ability! It would make our jobs a hell of a lot easier. I’m just saying that we’re doing things a little differently at Natian, and we’re proud of that fact.

The big event coming up is the Buckman-Kerns Brewfest, hosted by the EastBurn. It’s going down this coming Saturday, April 6th from noon to 8 pm. Eight breweries located in the Buckman-Kerns neighborhood will be battling it out to see who our neighbors (you, the attendees) think makes the Best IPA! We’re excited for the challenge and thank you in advance for your vote. In our opinion, this is the best little beer festival in all of Portland so we hope you can make it and join the fun. Click the image below for all the details. We look forward to seeing everyone Saturday at the EastBurn, cheers!!

Can you believe it’s March already?! Man, time really goes by faster the older you get. Why is that? If anybody can explain it to me, I’m all ears because I really don’t understand it.

Alright, onto the news and what’s happening at Natian. Next week, I’ll be flying down to Dallas to meet with a can manufacturer to approve our new printed cans! This may not be big news to you, but it is for me. For the past year we’ve been using shrink wrap labels on our cans. This process is very time consuming and labor intensive. Really, it’s a big pain in the ass! Having pre-printed cans will save us dozens of hours in the production process and allow us to get the beer out the door faster. You’ll probably begin seeing them at retail outlets sometime in April.

Besides the new cans, we’ve just been keeping busy canning beer and working hard to get into new establishments so that more people are able to enjoy Natian. If you don’t see our cans or we’re not on tap at your favorite bar or bottle shop, drop us a note, let us know where that is and we’ll contact them to change that for you.

We do have several events coming up that you should know about. First of all, if you like your beer green on St. Patrick’s Day, then you will need to visit Hawthorne Hophouse or 15th Avenue Hophouse. They will be serving up special green versions of the Undun Blonde for your enjoyment. The Hawthorne location will also have Lumberjane Stout and the IRA on tap. I’ll be there sometime in the afternoon pouring samples of the Undun Blonde, CuDA and Old Grogham. We’ll post exact times in the near future, so come by, say “Hi” and get some free beer! Both locations will also have Irish themed food menus so you can feel like you’re on the Emerald Isle and celebrate all things Irish.

Next up, will be the Third Annual Buckman-Kerns Brewfest held at East Burn on Saturday, April 6th. We’re happy to be taking part in this festival celebrating the microbreweries of the neighborhood we call home. Not sure exactly what we’ll be pouring yet, but there will be some variety of IPA since they’ve added a Best IPA Contest this year! Stay tuned for updates as the time approaches. I encourage everyone to come out for this year’s Buckman-Kerns Brewfest. It’s one of my favorite events and I always look forward to it because it’s so fun and the crew at the East Burn does an awesome job! Make your plans today.